1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printing fluid cartridge and to a printing apparatus comprising such a printing fluid cartridge.
2. Description of Related Art
A known image printing apparatus, as described in Patent Application Publication No. JP 2009-132098 A, is configured to print an image on a sheet of printing paper. The known image printing apparatus has an inkjet printing head and is configured to eject ink droplets selectively from nozzles of the printing head onto the sheet of printing paper. The ink droplets land on the sheet of printing paper and thereby a desired image is printed on the sheet of printing paper. The known image printing apparatus has an ink cartridge, and the ink cartridge is configured to store ink to be supplied to the printing head. The ink cartridge is configured to be mounted to and removed from a mounting portion provided in the known image printing apparatus.
Another known ink cartridge, as described in Patent Application Publication No. JP 2000-37880, has an electronic component such as a memory module for storing data about the information of the ink cartridge, e.g., the color of ink, the ingredients of ink, the remaining amount of ink, a maintenance status, and etc. When the ink cartridge is mounted to a mounting portion, the memory module contacts and is electrically connected to electrical contacts provided in the mounting portion, such that the data stored in the memory module can be read out.
When another known ink cartridge is mounted to a mounting portion, an external biasing force is applied from the mounting portion to the ink cartridge in a removal direction in which the ink cartridge is removed from the mounting portion, such that a user can readily remove the ink cartridge when the user intends to do so. Moreover, the ink cartridge may have a valve mechanism configured to selectively open and close an opening formed in the ink cartridge, and the ink cartridge may be biased in the removal direction by a spring of the valve mechanism. The mounting portion has a lock mechanism to contact and retain the ink cartridge in the mounting portion against the biasing force. The ink cartridge mounted to the mounting portion is always biased in the removal direction.